PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) Explained
Podcast: Discussing and Demystifying the IRS News Release on ESOPs
(A)ESOP's Fables - The Income and Estate Tax-Free ESOP
Investment Management Update – Exit Strategies
ESOPs: A Path to Bank Independence
Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) have been used as a business succession strategy by employers across many industries. In the cannabis industry, ESOPs have come and gone and come again as a trendy topic promising to fix...more
On January 20, 2025, an executive order froze two new pieces of proposed employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) guidance announced in a notice of proposed rulemaking and originally set for publication in the Federal Register on...more
A February 19 Executive Order, titled “Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Deregulatory Initiative,” is aimed at directing the “Administration to focus the...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on Jan. 16, 2025, released its long-awaited proposed regulation interpreting the definition of "adequate consideration" as applied to private company stock acquired or sold by an employee...more
On January 16, 2025, the US Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) released two pieces of guidance that, if finalized, would dramatically change the landscape for fiduciaries responsible...more
On January 16, the Department of Labor released long-awaited guidance on how to determine the value of employer stock in purchase and sale transactions involving an ESOP. Unfortunately for those in the ESOP community hoping...more
On January 16, 2025, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) at the Department of Labor (DOL) released drafts of long-awaited proposed regulations seeking to clarify the definition of “adequate consideration” as...more
In a recent court ruling, the US Department of Labor (DOL) prevailed against corporate directors and shareholders for claims related to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) transaction. ...more
On behalf of the ESOPs, Benefits & Compensation team, we hope your Summer is off to a great start. In the time of family vacations and out-of-office replies, the pace of employee benefits changes—both large and small—remains...more
All qualified retirement plans are subject to a myriad of requirements of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA). The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is charged with enforcing the...more
On behalf of the ESOPs & Employee Benefits team, we hope you’re enjoying the first days of Spring, when the longer days allow more time to ponder the ever-changing landscape of employee benefits compliance. Please find below...more
Since their establishment in 1974, Employee Stock Ownership Plans (“ESOPs”) have become a popular and effective mechanism for private companies (both C corporations and S corporations) to provide employees an opportunity to...more
On November 28, three participants in Central States Manufacturing, Inc.’s employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) filed a complaint on their own behalf and on behalf of other ESOP participants against the company, its board of...more
The Secure Act 2.0 of 2022, enacted in the closing days of 2022, makes a substantial number of changes to tax-qualified retirement plans, most of which are intended to increase plan coverage and retirement savings. Although...more
The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE Act 2.0) makes far-reaching changes to the US retirement plan system. Our initial SECURE Act 2.0 LawFlash provided a general overview of its significant provisions. This blog post—one in our...more
Happy Fall from the K&C ESOPs & Employee Benefits practice group. We’ve compiled a short list of employee benefits updates from the third quarter of 2022....more
On July 27, 2022, Faegre Drinker filed an amicus brief on behalf of The ESOP Association in the pending Ninth Circuit appeal in Walsh v. Bowers, et al. The brief supports an award of attorneys’ fees and costs against the...more
Happy Summer from the K&C ESOPs & Employee Benefits practice group. We’ve compiled a short list of employee benefits updates from the second quarter of 2022....more
Happy Spring from the K&C ESOPs & Employee Benefits practice group. We’ve compiled a short list of employee benefits updates from the first quarter of 2022....more
In Pizzella v. Vinoskey, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 129579, the US Department of Labor (DOL) brought a case against an independent transactional ESOP trustee (the trustee), but also named the seller of stock to an employee stock...more
A recent Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decision serves as a warning to policyholders: read your entire policy, understand each provision and confirm that the policy language accurately reflects your understanding of the...more
The Federal District Court for Hawaii recently determined that no violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”) were established by the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) in a breach of...more
Mergers & Acquisitions And Paycheck Protection Program: Proceed With Caution - In Spring 2020, Congress adopted the CARES Act, which authorized $350 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”). With an additional...more
On January 12, 2021, the United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) entered into a consent order with another fiduciary of an employee stock ownership plan (“ESOP”). The consent order in Scalia v. Professional Fiduciary...more
ERISA litigation tends to spike when economic uncertainty or turmoil rises. Although many things contribute to this historically verifiable trend, it is easiest for employers to think about just two of them. First, an...more